Thursday, April 16 2020 18:06

ArmInfo.We should not talk about the weakening of bank secrecy when there are de facto filters and a framework providing for clear legal regulation of the issue.  This was announced on April 16 by Martin Galstyan, candidate for the  post of Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia,  emphasizing in this vein that he sees no threats to the stability of  the financial system.

"My research and the results of consultations with our lawyers about  the Bank Secrecy Law, which is ordered by the President of the  Republic of Armenia to be in the Constitutional Court, has clear  legal regulations that set out a list of actions that will allow you  to start any procedures in this regard," he said .  In particular,  Galstyan explained that the available filters provide for the  submission of a petition by the prosecutor general or his deputy to  the court, evidence on their part that the disclosure of bank secrets  is the cornerstone in solving this or that issue, and that applying  to the court is the last resort. In this regard, he continued that  the disclosure of bank secrets is possible only upon receipt of the  relevant permission from the court.

At the same time, Galstyan urged not to "chew" this topic, since such  conversations can cause some harm to the system.

Note that in September last year, amendments and additions to the  laws on "Criminal Procedure" and "On Bank Secrecy" were approved,  providing for some disclosure of banking information. According to  previous legislation, investigators and prosecutors could obtain bank  account information only with respect to suspects and accused. At the  same time, the accounts of related parties were not subject to  verification.  As the then First Deputy Minister of Justice Rafik  Grigoryan stated at that time, the regulation of the legislation in  force at that time prevented the investigation of cases related to  corruption risks, since often the investigation of corruption can be  connected not only with these people, but also with people connected  with them, and in some cases the evidence that is necessary to  attract a person as an accused, inaccessible to the investigation due  to bank secrecy.

The amendments lifted the restrictions, but at the same time,  specific mechanisms of guarantees and restrictions were provided. In  particular, a full list of crimes has been established for which a  petition for disclosing bank secrets can be submitted, as well as  control is provided by the prosecutor's office for the submission of  the petition. In addition, the court must present a reasoned decision  on the application, assess whether this is the only aspect and  whether it is impossible to find out in other ways, as well as the  possibility of notifying the person of the decision made and the  possibility of challenging it.

As many experts said, the bill on the abolition of bank secrecy poses  many threats to the banking system and is fraught with an outflow of  capital from banking institutions of Armenia. The Central Bank of  Armenia, in response, explained that these changes in no way cancel  banking secrecy - they only clarify the list of data requested by  court order.